Archives for 164 – Knowing Our Roots

Three Dimensions of Leadership for Growing (and Dying) Churches!Last month, I offered a brief introduction to a wonderful book on leadership by Tod Bolsinger titled Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.1 One significant feature of the Bolsinger’s book is his contribution to thinking about the sort of leadership needed in congregational contexts today. When…

Barbara Brown Taylor
writes, “Earth is so thick with divine
possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins
on altars.”
Consider the pace at which we tend to do life. The temptation is to plow
through – make lists for the things, do the things, stress about all the
things, and then go to bed and do it all again the next day. Taylor continues, “While…

This past Mother’s Day I
worshipped at the church in which I grew up in Abilene, Texas. This is not a
perfect church by any stretch of the imagination. It is not even a church that
I agree with on issues that I may consider primary. But the thing that struck
me so significantly on this Mother’s…

Like many of you, I grew up in Churches of Christ. I knew what 728b was. I knew what a tract rack was (and used it as a resource as a child). I knew you weren’t supposed to clap. I knew who was going to heaven. We were and anyone else was suspect at best. I do not remember that last one being directly stated very often…

A great new theological series started this week on our YouTube channel with John Mark Hicks. You can watch the first two below. This will be a 50+ part series that will post Mondays and Thursdays for the next six months. I won’t be posting them individually here as we go to not flood this site with the videos but I will post the first two below…

“No creed but Christ” or “No creed but the Bible” is something that comes up a lot in Churches of Christ. We have resisted having any documents outside the Bible that operate in any official capacity for the life and doctrine of the church. I think that is a good intention and I am not one to advocate a Church of Christ creed but I do want…

Recently, writers for a popular kid’s cartoon married a male character to another male. Someone suggested that since I work with children and write, I should tackle this episode so others will be encouraged to respond. It is, after all, imperative that we do so.

I’ve thought and prayed about our response and this is what is on my heart:

I haven’t always been associated with the Churches of Christ. I didn’t know much about our roots or where we came from. I didn’t really care too much about our heritage until I heard Patrick Mead speak on it at a Campus Ministry conference. When I was introduced to the Declaration and Address of the Campbells and The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, I…

One of the greatest gifts that I received from growing up in the Churches of Christ is being taught a love and respect for Scripture from an early age. My father and the teachers at my little rural church made the Scripture come alive, and I saw the text lived out among the people around me. I had always considered myself to be a “Christian only” but…